Industries to consider working in - Singapore Budget 2015

[careerladder]

The Budget was finally announced and while we await eagerly more details from respective statutory boards and ministries, there are tell-tale signs that we can pick up to predict how the job market might evolve into.

Granted we can only see the success 5 years down the road, no one ever loses by over-preparing themselves for the imminent changes. The last thing you want to happen is to be caught late in the game when everyone else has pivoted off in another direction.

History has shown us how painful changes, whether they are unintended (recessions that forced many financial institutions to fire en masse) and intended (tightening of foreign workers quota that led to slow/negative business growth and resulted in cost cuts, which include Singaporean managers).

Here are some of the signs I picked up that you might want to contextualise into your personal situation and assess accordingly:

Industries

Government policies (directly and indirectly) have always determined the fate of numerous industries. Look at the cooling measures on the property market. It resulted in huge departure of property agents.

As at 1st Jan 2015 there are a total of 30,830 registered agents, down from 31,783 in the previous year. This is according to Council of Estate Agencies. More agents also did not renew their registration, from 3,382 in 2014 to 3,959 in 2015. Number of entrants into the industry also fell from 3,336 to 3,006.

It would be naïve to overlook the impact this Budget would bring to certain trades and industries.